Crowder College

A lack of accessible data has historically restricted malware analysis research, and practitioners have relied heavily on datasets provided by industry sources to advance. Existing public datasets are limited by narrow scope - most include files targeting a single platform, have labels supporting just one type of malware classification task, and make no effort to capture the evasive files that make malware detection difficult in practice. We present EMBER2024, a new dataset that enables holistic evaluation of malware classifiers. Created in collaboration with the authors of EMBER2017 and EMBER2018, the EMBER2024 dataset includes hashes, metadata, feature vectors, and labels for more than 3.2 million files from six file formats. Our dataset supports the training and evaluation of machine learning models on seven malware classification tasks, including malware detection, malware family classification, and malware behavior identification. EMBER2024 is the first to include a collection of malicious files that initially went undetected by a set of antivirus products, creating a "challenge" set to assess classifier performance against evasive malware. This work also introduces EMBER feature version 3, with added support for several new feature types. We are releasing the EMBER2024 dataset to promote reproducibility and empower researchers in the pursuit of new malware research topics.

This project was a research facility construction project and did not include actual research. The new facility will benefit the public by providing training opportunities for students, as well as incubator and laboratory space for entrepreneurs in the areas of alternative and renewable energies. The 9,216 -square-foot Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology (MARET) Center was completed in late 2011. Classes in the MARET Center began in the spring 2012 semester. Crowder College takes pride in the MARET Center, a focal point of the campus, as the cutting edge in education, applied research and commercial development in the growing field of green technology.

In 1991, the Missouri Business and Education Partnership presented the state's Department of Higher Education with a plan of “differentiated institutional missions,” with the goal of improving public four-year colleges and universities in terms of student success, institutional effectiveness, and system wide efficiency. The objective was to have each institution identify its unique areas of expertise and determine the appropriate degree of admissions selectivity necessary to execute its mission. From the time the initiative was adopted, questions about access and enrollment shifting plagued the effort. Millions of dollars in special mission enhancement funding were appropriated during the past decade, but most Missouri institutions of higher education continue to remain out of compliance with their own self-selected admission standards. This paper discusses the effects of this tiered system of selective admissions on enrollment patterns at public four-year colleges and universities, public community colleges, and independent institutions in Missouri. Data available were interpreted to mean an enrollment shift had been underway among Missouri four-year colleges and universities, but the shift did not seem to be between public four-year institutions (selective to open enrollment, etc.). Rather, a dramatic shift in enrollment away from public four-year institutions, and toward community colleges and four-year independent institutions occurred during the past several years. During the past two decades enrollment at public four-year institutions declined from 57% to 45% of total student FTE in the state. Conversely, combined enrollment at public community colleges and independent four-year institutions increased from slightly less than 43% to approximately 55% of total student FTE.

I recently found myself in the ‘enviable’ position of purchasing a library management system. The whole process gave me the chance to review the current classification scheme. The classification used was a ‘home made’ scheme based on broad legal topics. While the scheme was in itself fine, developments in the law meant that a significant number of areas were no longer sufficient. Coupled with the rapid growth in the firm's specialisms in the past few years, the classification scheme no longer served the needs of the library.

Details are presented which describe the construction of an inexpensive 12-ft diam planetarium which can be built as a student project. A geodesic dome aproximating 5/8 of a sphere was used to produce an acceptable projection surface. A complete planetarium, with a projector, can be acquired at a cost of approximately fifty dollars.